tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-54827511911468066122023-11-16T05:24:49.833-08:00Urban BowerbirdMusical ephemera from Australia and beyond. Jazz, soundtracks, field recordings, vaguely ethnic, folk, pop and whatever else I may find in the second-hand shops of Victoria.R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.comBlogger65125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-48195014624750040862016-12-12T14:16:00.001-08:002017-05-23T20:17:03.520-07:00Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup Doo-Wup - John Sangster (1980)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/273377999&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Here's a lesser known release from the later career of Urban Bowerbird patron saint, John Sangster. This is one of a handful of releases on Sangster's own 'Rain Forest Records' imprint, put out in the early eighties - <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/peaceful-john-sangster-1980.html" target="_blank">Peaceful </a>being another. Expect more of Sangster's idiosyncratic, mischievous, trad-influenced jazz played by the likes of Tony Gould, Ian Bloxsom, Errol Buddle, Graeme Lyall, Len Barnard and Bob Barnard. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/p8i8iiic2hiq0bz/Don%27t_Mean_A_Thing_If_It_Ain%27t_Got_That_Doo-Wup_Doo-Wup_Doo-Wup_Doo-Wup.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a> </span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-65360694299997440972016-11-07T16:48:00.000-08:002016-11-07T16:48:11.466-08:00Australian Jazz Quintet + 1 (1957)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="600" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/272978484&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Australian Jazz Quintet (also confusingly known as The Australian Jazz Quartet) were an old-school cool jazz act that achieved success both in their homeland and in the United States throughout the 1950s. There are some familiar players in this group with <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Errol%20Buddle" target="_blank">Errol Buddle</a> (bassoon and sax) going on to a prolific career, often playing with Don Burrows <i>et al</i> and <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Bryce%20Rohde" target="_blank">Bryce Rohde</a> (piano) becoming a significant jazz composer. The addition of bassoon, flute and vibes to the established jazz format of piano, bass, drums and sax made the band stand out at the time and lead to national tours and television appearances in America. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The A side of this LP is entirely taken up by the tremendous <i>Jazz In D Minor Suite</i>, written especially for the group by Bill Holman. The flip side is composed of shorter, more conventional pieces which are all impeccably played by the quintet (+1). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/file/ffss58as2gs9f45/Australian_Jazz_Quintet_%2B1.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a> </span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-44532617791551835482016-09-28T18:26:00.000-07:002016-09-28T18:26:08.157-07:00The Trio Orfeo at La Taverne (~1965)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I picked up this gem at the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Winchelsea+Op+Shop/@-38.238674,143.9750164,8052m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m21!1m15!4m14!1m6!1m2!1s0x6ad644fe2def1e81:0x54c1b80613a2bd86!2s63+William+Street,+Preston+VIC!2m2!1d145.002275!2d-37.732906!1m6!1m2!1s0x6ad33d138c153649:0x40579a430a0bfd0!2sBeech+Forest,+Victoria!2m2!1d143.566667!2d-38.633333!3m4!1s0x0:0x8f1404620bc69840!8m2!3d-38.2437806!4d143.9862639" target="_blank">Winchelsea op-shop</a> a couple of years ago. In the past I may have skipped past a release like this, but I had recently heard and very much enjoyed <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rarecollections/australounge:-music-for-dining,-music-for-dancing/6397342" target="_blank">RareCollections' 'Australounge' podcast</a>, featuring music from the house bands of Australian establishments of the sixties and seventies. The Trio Orfeo were a group of Greek musicians who had relocated to Australia and during the sixties were enjoying a residency at Sydney Restaurant, La Taverne. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">As is described in some detail in the aforementioned podcast, these stints as a house band often resulted in the pressing of records so the group could make a little extra money and the diners could have a souvenir of their experience. The playing and harmonies on this LP are excellent and the song choices are generally fantastic, incorporating Greek folk tunes and some nice surprises such as the exotica standard <i>Adventures In Paradise</i>. Inevitably there is a version of <i>Zorba The Greek</i> and for some reason the trio plays <i>The Mexican Hat Dance - </i>which I'm sure says something about Australia's difficult relationship with racism although I have no idea what. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">I love the sound of The Trio Orfeo and the feeling of being in a 1960s Sydney restaurant, however a </span><a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/11626434" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">contemporary critic</a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> said that one of their later LPs made them want to turn their record player off and described the group as "play[ing] inoffensive nightclub music"! No accounting for taste, I suppose.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/0t99a6kplaeckv2/At_La_Taverne_.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-39545110882983178862016-01-13T15:34:00.000-08:002016-01-13T15:36:03.333-08:00A synth soundtrack for the Australian environment: Aurora Australis - Bronzewing (2015)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8r9hrhXXuVvlrQ5aAiK2amQQH87dllVlWW3ZyoAw10MSicjjoi0fdSkWU59nnZnZg6y3itfIONs8RzbWA2RnsyiSlqkx_8Ww28qKUvlaKKt38q67_VYWxCbGwpdVcPo-oxoJkDt0PcH0/s1600/Bronzewing+-+Aurora+Australis+_4+FINAL+cmyk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8r9hrhXXuVvlrQ5aAiK2amQQH87dllVlWW3ZyoAw10MSicjjoi0fdSkWU59nnZnZg6y3itfIONs8RzbWA2RnsyiSlqkx_8Ww28qKUvlaKKt38q67_VYWxCbGwpdVcPo-oxoJkDt0PcH0/s320/Bronzewing+-+Aurora+Australis+_4+FINAL+cmyk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love conceptual synth albums from the seventies and eighties, particularly those which attempt to evoke or soundtrack the natural world. In recent years I have been inspired by Vangelis's <i>L'Apocalypse des animaux </i>and <i>Soil Festivities, </i>Joël Fajerman's botanical soundtrack <i>L’Aventure des plantes </i>and of course, Andrew Richardson's conceptual flute and synth oddity <i>Expanse</i>. These days my focus is increasingly on my homeland of Australia. Apart from that last record, where are the conceptual synth experiments from the seventies and eighties celebrating the unique Australian environment? </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are a few examples. Rob Thomsett's legendary <i>Yaraandoo </i>comes close, but is light on the synths and more of a prog rock freak out. The didjeridu-lead impressionism of Gondwanaland is closer to the mark - creating native Australian soundscapes with didj, synths and field recordings. But beyond these few, there's not much out there in the way of Antipodean, synth-washed nature concept albums from the seventies and eighties.</span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, I decided to make one myself! <i>Aurora Australis</i> is the debut album by Bronzewing, combining synthesizers, a little guitar and field recordings that I have recorded myself during my naturalist wanderings in Victoria and Queensland. There are also hints of oud, soprano saxophone and one composition written for and played by the Federation Bells - an automated carillon on the banks of the Yarra River in Melbourne. </span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/238724101&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can stream the album and download it at <a href="https://bronzewing.bandcamp.com/">https://bronzewing.bandcamp.com</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-86709657394101578722015-12-20T16:26:00.000-08:002015-12-20T16:26:16.565-08:00The Selling Sounds of the Seventies: Sonic Design - Bruce Clarke's Jingle Workshop (1970?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15y-syo9e-zbBAFsV6bFFrLrym5NadIatzCEZWuZ3q_N5XVWPi_HAk9rHedodgXaSpN-308qPe4yb5dnz6FvoYj9ukeXlEdetOFqrnpVO5gE8f0l2YbRBo6_FfC43rfr7yyAdZMibnoE/s1600/Sonic+Design+Bruce+Clarke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj15y-syo9e-zbBAFsV6bFFrLrym5NadIatzCEZWuZ3q_N5XVWPi_HAk9rHedodgXaSpN-308qPe4yb5dnz6FvoYj9ukeXlEdetOFqrnpVO5gE8f0l2YbRBo6_FfC43rfr7yyAdZMibnoE/s320/Sonic+Design+Bruce+Clarke.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/qantass-marketing-team-get-hip-kangaroo.html" target="_blank">As I’ve written previously</a>, I think that ‘incidental’ music such as advertising, television soundtracks and the like is far more evocative of our past than the pop hits that are generally believed to fulfill this role. Don’t get me wrong – I love old pop music – but it gets continually reused by later generations, symmetrically enough often for advertising and soundtracks, and this reappropriation strips the music of its original context and it becomes part of the sonic canon to newer generations. Not so for the advertisements. Ad music is created, used and then forgotten all within a very short amount of time. It is here that you can experience a real time capsule and listen to what the past <i>really sounded like</i>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Sonic Design</i> by Bruce Clarke’s Jingle Workshop is one such time capsule and a remarkable one at that. <i>Sonic Design</i> is intended as an advertisement of the advertiser’s advertising work. It’s an LP length mixtape of the Jingle Workshop’s existing jingles, campaigns and examples of what they can do in the recording studio. Put this on in your car as you drive down the street and you will swear you are actually travelling through late 1960s Australia.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The Jingle Workshop was a production company helmed by <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Bruce%20Clarke" target="_blank">Bruce Clarke</a> – a talented and diverse performer and teacher – and which produced “<a href="http://www.australianmusician.com.au/remembering-bruce-clarke/" target="_blank">3000 odd credits for television ads and programmes as well as film soundtracks produced for local and international markets</a>”. There were apparently a number of similar promotional records produced by the Jingle Workshop, but <i>Sonic Design</i> is the most common, in my experience.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The narration is a bit naff, in that peculiar late-1960s way, but the music still sounds great.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/ireuu2cq3g31jb9/SonicDesign.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-41448317874103232942015-07-20T19:57:00.000-07:002015-08-10T18:57:34.759-07:00This Rugged Coast Soundtrack by Urban Bowerbird (197?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVM9ixt_IDhO7G91Ukv4wf5Q7O6jmerbCp36fLBgJdBcsbVI-yl3HtnlJI8dPVeq9ofNkDFjdOhcbGgLksNUFysd2uGqR4A5tx2_Nq18n8JeRF38x4bAnwdHakVkohwFIUvjD_bI9DTa0/s1600/Ben+Cropp+blue.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVM9ixt_IDhO7G91Ukv4wf5Q7O6jmerbCp36fLBgJdBcsbVI-yl3HtnlJI8dPVeq9ofNkDFjdOhcbGgLksNUFysd2uGqR4A5tx2_Nq18n8JeRF38x4bAnwdHakVkohwFIUvjD_bI9DTa0/s320/Ben+Cropp+blue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This Rugged Coast was an Australian documentary series that followed Ben Cropp and his team as they traveled around Queensland's Coral Sea in the 1970s - like a cross between <i>The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau</i> and <i>Ron & Val Taylor's Inner Space</i>. I discovered it by accident a few years ago while watching late night tv and got so excited by it, <a href="http://thecambrianexplosion.blogspot.com.au/search/label/This%20Rugged%20Coast" target="_blank">I wrote a number of blog articles</a> remarking on its amusing anachronisms and my genuine fondness for the show. As I described the program at the time:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The crew is lead by Cropp perpetually standing alert at the helm in nothing but skimpy bathers and a beard, smoking a pipe and continually lifting his binoculars skyward and scanning the horizon for anything film-worthy. The watery, blue depths are his domain and he presides over them like a tanned Antipodean Neptune. He is joined by Hal the fearless sea-snake expert with a perplexing accent and thick-rimmed glasses, a crew that seems to consist mainly of beach-belles in bikinis (it wasn't clear at first what their capacity on-board was, but Lynn was credited with 'sound' so I can only assume the other girls are equally technically equipped), guys with beards who look like they know a thing or two about boats and of course the ship's cat, Skipper. In tonight's episode, our crew are venturing around a treacherous maze of coral reefs called 'The Coral Labyrinth' (the name is repeated at every opportunity by the voice-over guy who pronounces it 'Lab-ee-rinth' with a faintly rolled 'r'.)</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Like all good underwater documentary shows, the drama on <i>This Rugged Coast</i> is constantly underscored by music. I asked </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">James Pianta of <a href="http://www.votarydisk.com/" target="_blank">Votary Records</a>, about the source of this music back in 2011 and he said; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I actually spoke to Ben Cropp a few years back about releasing his soundtrack music, he was less than interested.</i><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Although he did tell me that he uses library music. This is problematic as unless the original cue sheets exist (they never do) it becomes really hard to source all the tracks let alone licensing."</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, I took it upon myself to piece together a soundtrack by ripping the audio from the DVDs. Most of the audio comes from <i>The Coral Labyrinth</i> episode mentioned above. There is the unavoidable presence of narration and dialogue from the program over the music that, at first bothered me as being 'messy' but which I now rather like as it truly recreates the atmosphere and the ambience of the show.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/180512392&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Now, here's a challenge. All of the music on this soundtrack is sourced from library records - does anyone recognise any of these pieces and can you identify them?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/j29c8ac9c1ml92j/This_Rugged_Coast.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-7416269611715336712015-02-21T14:53:00.000-08:002015-02-21T14:53:23.082-08:00Australian bush soundsdcapes: Various releases - Carl & Lise Weismann, Harold J. Pollock (1964 - 1970)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VgthGrhvYq4-FrjfyWKQkLq79z6HpYD6fDfwU_DGd11jY_vVeu0aB1BQgxuH7s-qPfU0rFmDVu8kS4pLNt_yjDK7EFjQIOkM9kPpbpBG2TkFt7IMgPMFSUHuBXthU5oFImoLTVnSTYQ/s1600/2014-09-09+08-11-19+pm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5VgthGrhvYq4-FrjfyWKQkLq79z6HpYD6fDfwU_DGd11jY_vVeu0aB1BQgxuH7s-qPfU0rFmDVu8kS4pLNt_yjDK7EFjQIOkM9kPpbpBG2TkFt7IMgPMFSUHuBXthU5oFImoLTVnSTYQ/s1600/2014-09-09+08-11-19+pm.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This post has been written by guest blogger, <a href="http://www.earth.ox.ac.uk/people/profiles/research/roger_close" target="_blank">Roger Close</a>.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Demand for album-length recordings of field sounds is not
what it once was. In the mid-twentieth century, though, long before smartphones
could summon up any bird-call in seconds, there seems to have been a thriving
market. This suite of five EPs from the 1960s and ‘70s (packaged with slim
hardback volumes by The Jacaranda Press) brings together a splendid range of
field recordings from the Australian natural environment. The earliest two
records, <i>Australian Bird Songs</i> (1964) and <i>Australian Bush Sounds</i>
(1966), were recorded by Danish couple Carl and Lise Weismann during a
ten-month traversal of the continent in 1957. Zoologist Carl Weismann was one
of the pioneers of ornithological field recordings, having collecting bird
calls for Danish radio as early as the 1930s. However, it was the popularity of
their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Dogs"><span style="color: #0000e9;">‘Singing Dogs’</span></a> novelty records that financed
their Australian tour. Vocalisations on these two albums are presented without
a narrator: the interested listener can follow ornithologist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Allen_Keast"><span style="color: #0000e9;">Alan
Keast’s</span></a> extensive written commentary. However, the calls are
sufficiently distinctive that it’s easy to keep in step with the track listing.
The later three recordings, ‘Menura—<i>The Lyrebird</i>’ (1967), <i>Bird and
Animal Calls of Australia</i> (1968) and <i>Voices of the Australian Bush</i>
(1970) are the end-result of thirteen years of outback travel by of one of
Australia’s leading wildlife photographers at the time, Harold J. Pollock.
Although these recordings also contain extensive notes, the subject of each
track is also announced by Mr Pollock in a delightfully old-fashioned tone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="200" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/192337267&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nineteen species are included on <i>Australian Bird Songs</i>,
all of which are captured clearly and with minimal background noise—perhaps
attributable to the gigantic three-foot parabolic microphone reflector dish
pictured on the back of the EP (wielded by Carl; his wife (“at this stage a new
bride”) operates the portable reel-to-reel tape recorded slung over her
shoulder). Recordings were made in a wide variety of remote environments. Both
sides of this EP contain a mix of common and lesser-known (and more
unusual-sounding) species, although they are frequently referred to by obsolete
names, which might confuse modern listeners a little. Accompanying the black
and white photographs, Alan Keast provides lively and poetic descriptions of
each species’ calls, which are preceded by an informative discussion of the biological
roles of bird song.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Additional material recorded during the Wiesmanns’
Australian expedition was released the next year on <i>Australian Bush Sounds</i>.
Unlike their previous recording, this EP is not limited to birds, and features
several mammals, amphibians (the Weismanns professed to be overawed by the
incredible variety of frog calls on offer in this country) and even insects, a
greater variety of calls that makes for more pleasant background listening. In
particular, the far-off howling of a pack of dingos is very evocative, and one
can only imagine how the two Scandinavian globetrotters felt as they captured
this soundscape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">‘Menura—<i>The Lyrebird</i>’ is the only EP to focus on a
single taxon. Most of the recordings are of two Superb Lyrebird individuals: a
male, ‘Wanderer,’ in Sherbrooke Forest in Victoria, and a female, ‘Theresa,’
living near Sydney; the text gives detailed biographies, along with accounts of
the natural history of the lyrebird. An anonymous Albert Lyrebird from Southern
Queensland also makes an appearance. It seems this release was a tie-in with a
now-forgotten <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22040834?q=+harold+pollock+menura&c=music&versionId=26579961"><span style="color: #0000e9;">documentary film</span></a> of the same name, during the
making of which Mr Pollock lived alongside his subjects for six months.
(Pollock also made short documentaries about <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22042732?selectedversion=NBD3160965"><span style="color: #0000e9;">pelicans</span></a>, <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22032245?q=+harold+j+pollock&c=music&versionId=26568037"><span style="color: #0000e9;">brolgas</span></a>, <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22039007?q=+harold+j+pollock&c=music"><span style="color: #0000e9;">red kangaroos</span></a> and <a href="http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/22038825?q=+harold+j+pollock&c=music&versionId=26577079"><span style="color: #0000e9;">koalas</span></a>, all financed by the State Bank of New
South Wales). The EP gives a terrific impression of the variety of calls and
imitations that these peculiar birds are capable of—particularly mimicry of
other bird species, although ‘Theresa’ does produce a fine imitation of a dog’s
bark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Bird and Animal Calls of Australia</i> (‘animals’ here
being synonymous with ‘mammals’) is the first instalment in this Jacaranda
series to be printed in full-colour. The first side of the EP presents calls
from a range of fairly common bird species, including the melodious Pied
Butcher Bird, the curious but familiar Pied Currawong, and the
less-commonly-heard calls of the Cassowary and Brolga. Side two is perhaps more
interesting, focussing on mammal species. The male and female koala calls
provide an amusing contrast, particularly the ‘courting’ vocalisations; we’re
also treated to the sound of koalas fighting and to a baby koala, which is
rather cute. More obscure ‘animal’ calls include the Squirrel Glider, Tasmanian
Devils (which sound remarkably like feral cats) and Flying Foxes. The natural
history of each species in included in the booklet, along with an extensive
description of the technical hurdles of recording field sounds, should you wish
to attempt your own. If you wish to go down the reel-to-reel tape route, the
German-made Uher 4000 Report S is a “lightweight masterpiece of electronic
engineering” (only 7 lb. complete with battery); this will no doubt make it
easier to lug around your parabolic reflector and AKG microphone.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The final EP, </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Voices of the Australian Bush</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
doesn’t include Mr Pollock’s announcements, but does cover 29 species of bird,
both rare and common, accompanied by colourful descriptions and photographs. In
addition to an updated guide to making field recordings, there is a portrait
showing Mr Pollock brandishing his equipment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/5sc6dtbcqx8r6x5/Australian_Bush_Soundscapes.zip" target="_blank">Download - Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-27536865452005964272015-01-24T15:08:00.000-08:002015-07-20T20:20:37.728-07:00Comedy and jazz from lost Melbourne: All Aboard! - Alan Rowe The One-Man Show (196?) and Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band (1947)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NZuPegR2cuXyyS9uIO0RN2o1gnuQH7cP0uhnscbQ1mhWb0vZHuZN2KNUd7DabDDk38tR2FomjDnjoK9tWtbeMIXj9WXaoKiv7WBeyPkIj4aHsMcnXS856G5i0-_9X0HKJ_3J_cE3IKs/s1600/Alan+Rowe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1NZuPegR2cuXyyS9uIO0RN2o1gnuQH7cP0uhnscbQ1mhWb0vZHuZN2KNUd7DabDDk38tR2FomjDnjoK9tWtbeMIXj9WXaoKiv7WBeyPkIj4aHsMcnXS856G5i0-_9X0HKJ_3J_cE3IKs/s1600/Alan+Rowe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Comedy is one of the most ephemeral art forms there is. What people find funny is very specific to a time and place and it dates almost immediately. While this can make comedy from only a couple of years ago seem stale and boring, that same effect can make comedy from decades or centuries ago incredibly illuminating in terms of understanding that culture and getting a feel for the real world of the bourgeoisie.<br />
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Alan Rowe was a very family-friendly comedian who did impressions, sang songs and performed bits about the suburban experience in Melbourne around the early sixties. His was an old-fashioned, one-man show in the vaudeville tradition. To a modern listener, this kind of performance can sound a bit <a href="http://youtu.be/6_h0_OUSScc" target="_blank">Arthur Atkinson from The Fast Show</a>, but there’s no question that Alan was a consummate performer with original material and a good rapport with his audience. One of my favourite bits, and one that illustrates the timelessness of certain Melbourne institutions, is the one where Alan calls the running of a train on the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Frankston+VIC/@-38.1650961,145.1404356,26586m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6ad60b2a48d44683:0x5045675218ce240" target="_blank">Frankston </a>line in the style of a horse racing announcer. With a few minimal updates, you could probably perform this routine today and still get laughs in Melbourne. Rowe's songs <i>Living In A Flat</i> and <i>Dad’s Lost Weekend</i> likewise reflect an early celebration of Australian suburban-ness that is still recognisable today.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="150" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/115131758&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span></div>
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Rowe’s final bit relates a story of a booking for a show in which all the other acts cancel, leaving Alan to take their place via his impressions. He replicates a female soprano, a bass baritone (“Michael Row The Boat Ashore), a countrified harmonica (“Home On The Range”), a banjo-mandolin player and finally as Graeme Bell’s six-piece Dixieland Jazz Band. I was pleasantly surprised to see that at the time Graeme Bell was such a well-known fixture in Australian pop culture as to be an instantly familiar reference.<br />
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To round out this little sonic window into lost Melbourne, here’s a 10” 78RPM record by Graeme Bell & His Dixieland Jazz Band that I found in a Reservoir op-shop. Ever the skilled showman, even with only his voice and a piano Alan does a pretty good impression of the band.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="150" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/151600334&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/orjvd9tygv3z9bb/Alan_Rowe.zip" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-12012527014599101632015-01-11T16:59:00.001-08:002015-01-14T14:19:30.237-08:00The REAL hidden, late-career Libaek treasure: White Midnight - Sven Libaek (1983)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLprfLvipM4GDS-l4cZMxtZXpBjnO2xIiHTWqAMThwoUaInHpJB940UnymEqIHexn6X4MdGqodqqn3B9Q4iMCTus3d8jimamFcKvt0ci9DPcnW26pULN3InF_5M53DUEep_JBc_kKVZg/s1600/whitemidnight.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggLprfLvipM4GDS-l4cZMxtZXpBjnO2xIiHTWqAMThwoUaInHpJB940UnymEqIHexn6X4MdGqodqqn3B9Q4iMCTus3d8jimamFcKvt0ci9DPcnW26pULN3InF_5M53DUEep_JBc_kKVZg/s1600/whitemidnight.png" height="318" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">EDIT 11/01/2015: <i>When I posted this a month ago, I uploaded the wrong song. I had accidentally uploaded </i>The Settlement<i>; an original Libaek soundtrack composition which can be found on the </i>I Love Australian Movies<i> LP. A nice track to be sure, but not of the quality of </i>White Midnight<i>, which has now been uploaded to the player below.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sven Libaek produced so much wonderful music during his career, but at some point in the late seventies his output suddenly became very schmaltzy and unremarkable. Gone are the exciting, idiosyncratic soundtracks, replaced with easy listening orchestral cheese. I see these late-career records regularly in my travels and sometimes I can’t resist buying them, despite knowing full well they’re going to be terrible, due to my deeply ingrained love of Libaek.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Every now and again, I find that these records harbour a song worth listening to or even, in this case, a flat-out excellent example of the Libaek genre. 1983’s <i>Love Is In The Air</i> is a collection of pedestrian covers played by the Sven Libaek Orchestra and is unlikely to be included in the Libaek classic canon. However, buried in the middle of the second side is <i>White Midnight</i>, a song written by Sven and originally recorded in 1965 by The Saints (not <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saints_%28Australian_band%29" target="_blank">the well-known Australian punk rock band</a>) on their obscure Australian skiing record, <i>Ski With The Saints</i>, which Libaek produced for CBS.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This track, despite bearing sonic hallmarks that make it clear it was recorded in the eighties, is pure golden-era Libaek, sounding like it could be a condensed section from <i>Australian Suite</i> or an excerpt from one of Sven’s soundtracks. Have a listen and be the judge: is this a lost Libaek gem, or what?</span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="250" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/185438419&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true" width="100%"></iframe></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-15386589845929547552014-12-07T20:01:00.001-08:002020-07-16T16:05:53.883-07:00Revisiting John Sangster's Lord of the Rings LPs.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"> When
discussing </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/hobbit-suite-john-sangster-1973.html" target="_blank">The Hobbit Suite</a></i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"><a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/hobbit-suite-john-sangster-1973.html" target="_blank"> record two years ago</a>, I offhandedly described John Sangster’s </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">Lord of the Rings</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;"> LPs as too ‘trad-jazzy’ for my tastes. I have
been revisiting a few of these albums of late – prompted in part from reading Sangster’s
autobiography </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">Seeing The Rafters</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">
(1988) – and I’ve gotten new insights into the man’s work that have caused a
revision in my thinking on these albums.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sangster’s
Tolkien-themed series of albums comprised, <i>The
Hobbit Suite</i> (1973), <i>Lord of the
Rings</i> (1975), <i>Lord of the Rings Vol.
2</i> (1976), <i>Double Vibes: Hobbit</i>
(1977), <i>Lord of the Rings Vol 3.</i>
(1977) and <i>Landscapes of Middle Earth</i>
(1978). All of these were double LPs released on EMI apart from the two hobbit
records which were single LPs released on local jazz label Swaggie. The EMI
records have all been excellently remastered and re-released on CD by <a href="http://www.move.com.au/artist/john-sangster" target="_blank">Move Records</a>. Swaggie have remastered and re-released <i>The Hobbit Suite and selections from Double Vibes</i> which features the
aforementioned album plus four songs from the latter title. (Given the paucity
of reissues of Australian jazz recordings from the sixties and seventies, this
may provide some indication of the esteem in which these records are still held
by people in the local music industry.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>The Hobbit Suite</i> was apparently quite a spontaneous
recording with a small ensemble and most of the tracks are first takes. After
the success of this record Sangster was emboldened to try more ambitious
arrangements for the new music he was writing and went to a major label that
could support his vision. These records feature expanded brass and string
sections in addition to the core jazz band.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For
the past year or so I have been thoroughly listening to the first two <i>LOTR</i> albums and <i>The Hobbit Suite</i> which preceded them. (I haven’t heard <i>LOTR Vol 3.</i> or <i>Landscapes of Middle Earth</i> at all – and I won’t do for quite some
time. Sangster died in 1995, his musical output was finite and I’ve got to make
this stuff <i>last</i>.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Firstly,
despite the aesthetics of the cover art and the song titles being allusions to
Tolkien at face value, Sangster’s autobiography makes clear that these records
too, are autobiographies. His life, in musical form. For example, the ‘Knockabout
Trolls’ from <i>The Hobbit Suite</i>? Those ‘trolls’
are Sango and Sluggsy AKA his mate, drummer Len Barnard, doubling on washboard out
the front of the band! And as for the stoned laughter and banter in the
background of <i>Longbottom Leaf</i> from <i>LOTR Vol 2.</i> well, let’s just say that they
may well have been method-acting. Legolas <i>et
al</i> may hail from Middle Earth, but the bird calls in the field recordings
on these albums are clearly from natives of the New South Wales temperate
forests, near Sangster’s home of Sydney.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In
addition to these coded titles, the music itself represents the myriad of
styles that Sangster has played in, beginning in the burgeoning Australian jazz
scene of the forties. From his book: “If you want a musical autobiography, it's
all there in the Lord of the Rings albums. A crazed montage of all the jazz
(and other) idioms I've been involved with during my life. All the musics I
love are in there; some plainly stated, some distorted and disguised a little
bit the way memories sometimes go." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">My
dismissive description of the <i>LOTR</i>
records as merely ‘trad jazz’ is just plain wrong; these records encompass a
ridiculous range of music from within and without the jazz scene, such as old-style
trad, ragtime, be-bop, big-band/swing, blues, film music, avant garde and musique
concrète. The fact that the first <i>LOTR </i>record
has a track like <i>Uncle Gandalf Needs You</i>
followed immediately by <i>Ents And Entwives</i>
is a feat of juxtaposition that shows how ballsy Sangster really was. Sangster
worshipped old greats like Bix Beiderbecke and Ellington, but he was equally a
fan of experimental icons like Sun Ra, Moondog and Xenakis and all these influences
coexist on these discs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" style="text-indent: 36.0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; text-indent: 36pt;">I’m
glad I persevered with these records as these are superb examples of Sangster’s
work and are significant albums, not just for Australian jazz, but Australian
music in general. Is it too much to hope that one day Sangster’s music will see
a resurgence amongst the hipsters and the Oz music bourgeois alike, and Sango
himself celebrated as an unheralded genius? I really hope so. Australians are
famously unwilling to revere their own as cultural figures worth praising, but
a talent like John Sangster must transcend this and take a rightful place in
the antipodean cultural canon alongside the likes of Barry Humphries or Charles
Blackman. On yer Sango. </span></div>
</div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-17761781760065835642014-09-28T17:58:00.002-07:002014-09-29T16:24:07.097-07:00Lord, Why? - The Cambrian Explosion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz9t0JKkOnm5Fp1PBZAZcrztVKPvY4vapkyvJulBnRaMr6HYC_RaraEJ_j3ynzoz-B-uOXoOFx89byffvl0F19W2qnweZYwiOe1Cumi4fQr_Sirw_-7fl7YArabYmzZOgOgPqYXweL6k4/s1600/Lord+Why.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz9t0JKkOnm5Fp1PBZAZcrztVKPvY4vapkyvJulBnRaMr6HYC_RaraEJ_j3ynzoz-B-uOXoOFx89byffvl0F19W2qnweZYwiOe1Cumi4fQr_Sirw_-7fl7YArabYmzZOgOgPqYXweL6k4/s1600/Lord+Why.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the second single from The Cambrian Explosion's album release <i>Marine Theology</i>. Yes, this is a song from my own band and I'd very much like you to hear it. On this one, we grind out some garage gospel with an arsenal of vintage and modern instrumentation, including flute and cümbüş</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lyrics recount a lament from a protagonist attempting to reconcile the existence of fossils, dinosaurs and other natural phenomena with a fundamentalist belief system. <i>Lord, why'd you leave the shells on the mountaintop?</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can download this song for free on <a href="https://cambrianexplosion.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">our Bandcamp page</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ilbdJqUl88U" width="480"></iframe></span><br />
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-48258744586823439332014-08-05T15:59:00.000-07:002014-08-07T03:15:42.068-07:00A Wave In The Ocean - The Cambrian Explosion<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiur8suNebR4VEocolO_nBExFDxBTHuidfG3hsKHjiEe7fhnxdJp0Dr9mwSnJW26uMhZbQ81MGk-zFVVr1R0A3WwAuwAR0i1JSuNxoz-SjqLyLqdq_XxrBEI0j-F0VogsNfw04atAJBnZE/s1600/a2105413222_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiur8suNebR4VEocolO_nBExFDxBTHuidfG3hsKHjiEe7fhnxdJp0Dr9mwSnJW26uMhZbQ81MGk-zFVVr1R0A3WwAuwAR0i1JSuNxoz-SjqLyLqdq_XxrBEI0j-F0VogsNfw04atAJBnZE/s1600/a2105413222_10.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>A Wave In The Ocean</i> is lovely vocal pop number with an overall middle-eastern fusion style, accented by the Turkish oud. (To be more precise, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%BCmb%C3%BC%C5%9F" target="_blank">cümbüş</a>.) It's the first single from <i>Marine Theology</i>, an oceanic theme album from my band, <a href="http://cambrianexplosion.bandcamp.com/" target="_blank">The Cambrian Explosion</a>. I realise this is a little outside of my usual brief for this blog, but this is music of which I am extremely proud and would like to share with as many people as possible. Let me know what you think, and please pass this on to musical fellow travelers if this is your kind of thing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe seamless="" src="http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3611823711/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=0f91ff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/" style="border: 0; height: 470px; width: 100%;"><a href="http://cambrianexplosion.bandcamp.com/album/a-wave-in-the-ocean-single-edit">A Wave In The Ocean (Single Edit) by The Cambrian Explosion</a></iframe></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-68900879434843397352014-06-19T23:04:00.000-07:002015-02-25T14:21:26.197-08:00Nature Songs - Queensland National Parks and Wildlife Service (1978)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCLRXGg4CzPm0dLj_Zt5YwtjqkR91Qxp-egJaFs2SQnHf660nx_gt21bq0JM0y72DTeMLCz7n7rUbnp1UXoBY5nVfqhJ_6Ydhq-5tZFy5HiPkTxbPidPRLSwYF_RVcXlR1a0K-q6W36w/s1600/Nature+Songs+front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWCLRXGg4CzPm0dLj_Zt5YwtjqkR91Qxp-egJaFs2SQnHf660nx_gt21bq0JM0y72DTeMLCz7n7rUbnp1UXoBY5nVfqhJ_6Ydhq-5tZFy5HiPkTxbPidPRLSwYF_RVcXlR1a0K-q6W36w/s1600/Nature+Songs+front.jpg" height="312" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although I was brought up in Victoria - Australia's southernmost mainland state and a long way from tropical Queensland - this record of environmentally themed children's tunes reminds me of my childhood. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My family's particular jam was the classic <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCXAJqtfBfY" target="_blank">Feathers, Fur or Fin</a> by Don Spencer, but there must be a whole world of Australian </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ecological kid's music out there to discover. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to the incredible natural heritage we've inherited, environmental education is often given a high priority in Australian schools, even at the earliest levels. And as all educators know, there's no more effective route to data retention than singing along to a catchy, upbeat tune strummed on a guitar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />Although a lot of these tracks are folky, three chord guitar-based numbers, there is plenty of inventiveness in the execution of these <i>Nature Songs</i>. <i>I'm The Spider</i> is rendered as a weird, glammy stomp with a delay pedal guitar solo. <i>Marsupial</i>'s instructive lyrics about our unique native mammals are delivered via kind-of-rapping backed by indigenous didgeridoo and rhythm sticks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/154421887&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false" width="100%"></iframe><br /><br />The lyrical content is occasionally a little ham-fisted, but overall fun and informative and not afraid to touch on environmental issues that might seem too obscure for kids. What songwriter today would have the balls to write an entire song about decomposition for a children's audience with lines like: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>I decided to look closer, I bent down on my knee, I saw some fruiting bodies of the bracket fungi. Looking even closer, I saw some fibrous threads, </i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>fungi have no roots so use hyphae instead</i>? Or an entire song about coral polyps or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyte" target="_blank">epiphytes</a>?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The record is divided by the two sides; side one is the <i>dry side</i> featuring songs about life on land, side two is the <i>wet side </i>(from <i>The Polyp Song</i> onward), featuring songs about life in the water.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label: </b>Private</span><br />
<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Released:</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 1978</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brian Mackness - w</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ords and music.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sandy Pollard - lead vocals and harmony, six and twelve string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, flute, descant recorder, alto recorder, sopranino recorder, autoharp, glockenspiel, percussion and sound production.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Laurie Stone - mandolin, technical advice, sound mixing and production.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Steve Errey - sound recording.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jacky Nisbet - vocals and harmonies.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Keth Ross - banjo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mick Walker - blues harp.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Darryl Boyd, Jason Boyd and Leanne Mash - narration, vocals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sam Bun'tarrawuy - didgeridoo.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Guillot, Robyn Kreis - percussion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Brian Mackness - sound production.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Peter Ogilvie - bird call recordings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Amanda Hadley, Melinda (Lindy) Hadley, Gregory Hadley, Gregory Mash, Tony Rasmussen, Stuart Mash, Kathryn Mash - vocals.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Engineered by Laurie Stone at Multi Media Studios, Spring Hill, Brisbane.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/217muc6o4nwt968/Nature_Songs.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-45742073687313728302014-06-07T22:38:00.002-07:002014-06-19T23:10:08.429-07:00I'm selling a couple of Libaek singles on eBay.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZroBEGQwjoyiz9HFiOHMKP5mVCoGAhhBmo8j-ak2MDk_j62YhXwtS2JOfra6ATy4IqCOR2_8YxPEqKuSJLJtYo8oN8sBWWD57vV6YOgiBDWyJMOevYHzh5Eb_NI7PhltdmgnGn1z_s4/s1600/thatcherie+single.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMZroBEGQwjoyiz9HFiOHMKP5mVCoGAhhBmo8j-ak2MDk_j62YhXwtS2JOfra6ATy4IqCOR2_8YxPEqKuSJLJtYo8oN8sBWWD57vV6YOgiBDWyJMOevYHzh5Eb_NI7PhltdmgnGn1z_s4/s1600/thatcherie+single.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If anyone's interested I'm selling some singles on eBay, amongst them, a few Libaek records: the <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111375753384?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank"><i>Thatcherie</i> single</a> from the <i>Inner Space</i> soundtrack, the <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111382162810?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank"><i>Boney Title Theme</i> single</a> from the <i>Boney</i> soundtrack and the <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111382166094?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank">Andy Sundstrom <i>Northern Territory</i> single</a> composed and produced by Libaek and previously featured on this blog. I've also got a bunch of 7" singles released by </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Secret Chiefs 3 in</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> 2007 and a Ween single from <i>White Pepper</i>, if you're into <a href="http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/jackcambrian/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=" target="_blank">those sorts of things</a>.</span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-56211498326397788892014-05-27T21:01:00.000-07:002014-05-28T02:36:32.680-07:00Field recording from old Oceania: A Souvenir of Fiji - Tamavua Village Singers (197?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIkPEdD4CEj-o72MznRPFbQ4Yx-W41qUqj34Vh0Ob_OElhE8fkuey00iBNQH4EzOU91KYybusuR9TD84l8XWqcUw2ixekS2DtYd7tnxjFatxE3SHoJ6Bl3E2ctXOo-pXnm38t_H-Hyvw/s1600/Fiji+Souvenir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeIkPEdD4CEj-o72MznRPFbQ4Yx-W41qUqj34Vh0Ob_OElhE8fkuey00iBNQH4EzOU91KYybusuR9TD84l8XWqcUw2ixekS2DtYd7tnxjFatxE3SHoJ6Bl3E2ctXOo-pXnm38t_H-Hyvw/s1600/Fiji+Souvenir.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Due to their proximity, there are a lot of folk recordings from the islands of the Pacific to be found in Australian charity and secondhand shops. Some of them are great; many are forgettable. I really like this EP because it’s a field recording of the performers in their traditional setting. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was recorded in a bure (a Fijian wood and straw hut) in </span><a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Tamavua/@-18.1188526,178.4558416,53553m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6e1bdef7b6ed1f3f:0xfaf95e4bcfe7b3d3" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Tamavua</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> by one James Siers. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can hear the crickets buzzing in the background and it has genuinely captured a certain sound and place. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is also an interesting recording as in addition to four traditional Fijian compositions there is a rendition of <i>Twelfth Street Rag</i>, an old Tin Pan Alley standard. The aforementioned tune is played with hacky gusto by the guitarist - or is it a ukelele? - without any accompaniment by the vocalists. </span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/151600358&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />I wanted to create a new label for categorising recordings from this part of the world. I assumed that Fiji would be in Polynesia, but it is in fact part of <i>Melanesia</i> along with New Guinea and associated islands. I’ve since ran with <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Oceania" target="_blank">Oceania</a> which is the most all encompassing term for this region, although this also apparently includes Australia. (I don’t think this inclusion makes for a particularly meaningful term. Australia is too culturally overbearing to be included in the more modest nations of the Pacific and should probably be left out of any such definitions.)</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJn9YBN5Oa4Og9IzihaRuMBB60u1eDuxf_C6ECRg7QTVMLR-gUcH04ik1b9zOK3ILGc8K4MbFnFvhP-CzNb4PIf9KYDZGqlxhSG2cmCy6clOAh897GYvwhj79dIhoeotGKxIloyrR-MiY/s1600/Pacific_Culture_Areas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJn9YBN5Oa4Og9IzihaRuMBB60u1eDuxf_C6ECRg7QTVMLR-gUcH04ik1b9zOK3ILGc8K4MbFnFvhP-CzNb4PIf9KYDZGqlxhSG2cmCy6clOAh897GYvwhj79dIhoeotGKxIloyrR-MiY/s1600/Pacific_Culture_Areas.jpg" height="260" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.</i></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Incidentally, this record was released by Hibiscus Records, a subsidiary of Kiwi Records. I am very interested in any releases from either of these labels, both of which specialised in indigenous musics, field recordings and other wonderfully esoteric materials from Oceania and New Zealand respectively.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> Hibiscus Records</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> I really have no idea. Probably 1970s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> Samu Loki</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Malakai Niubasaga</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Semesa Lewai</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Aca Tomasi</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bulewa Vilitati</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/h1lencou78lia3q/Souvenir_of_Fiji.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-16813139526682474322014-05-07T16:40:00.001-07:002014-06-19T23:04:24.290-07:00A beautiful sixties Greek soundtrack: Hellespontus - Stavros Xarcharkos (1966)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvBDPji94i0eT-PmXMpZLzjYJpF3B6qlYQ56s6spPrJsCWcV-9KdXpE64HbSe0X68-8dQTxNsGInxtRHdxdIRU-rPCAP00Rv967yDec8uzrKf0ZeZUjU8tpABCTKV7norCAjuUWkWhq8/s1600/Hellespontus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNvBDPji94i0eT-PmXMpZLzjYJpF3B6qlYQ56s6spPrJsCWcV-9KdXpE64HbSe0X68-8dQTxNsGInxtRHdxdIRU-rPCAP00Rv967yDec8uzrKf0ZeZUjU8tpABCTKV7norCAjuUWkWhq8/s1600/Hellespontus.jpg" height="319" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a classy set of original Greek folk music from 1966 composed by Stavros Xarcharkos. The dominant presence of the bouzouki on most tracks lends the album a strong Greek, traditional feel, but there is a welcome addition of unorthodox tones for this style of music such as electric guitar and glockenspiel. As the liner notes say, Xarcharkos has a ‘talent for blending unusual instrumentation with the warm melancholy of beautiful songs’. There’s a lot of range here, from slow, spooky bazouki numbers such as <i>Horos Tou Sakaina</i> - which when I first heard it, I was sure was the source material for Secret Chief’s 3’s <i>Ship Of Fools</i>* - to fast, odd-metred folk dances like <i>Fos Tis Avgis</i> and <i>Ipomoni</i>.<br /><br />This LP was originally released in 1966, but was reissued in 1972 when one of the tunes was appropriated as the theme song to the successful BBC drama series The Lotus Eaters. It is from this reissue that this rip was made, which I was fortunate enough to find at the <a href="https://www.google.com.au/maps/place/Cowes+VIC+3922/@-38.500672,145.2439678,22049m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x6ad5ec79f6ddebdb:0x50579a430a0d410" target="_blank">Phillip Island</a> Vinnies Store.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">*It's probably not.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/148433114&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> EMI</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> Originally 1966, this reissue sometime after 1972.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/4f9nrw33bv1d3sm/Hellespontus.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-62715772167891910162014-04-17T19:22:00.002-07:002015-09-28T21:46:21.835-07:00Moog-tinged jazz-funk from the King of Jingles: Vichyssoise - Bruce Clarke & Maryan Kenyon (1973) <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2gBO5BY9TWTpnTVS5n_uUNBPEPMyYFBM6ZxqLxsyqd0S5yTYgTCxoJBkkImRt63k1MgPGvzZIR2186CTkqfcalRzfTOp5CWazFWhZnfkygRPc9hS9hJjrvKtqYx4HGKQFOerWz_lY08/s1600/Vichyssoise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2gBO5BY9TWTpnTVS5n_uUNBPEPMyYFBM6ZxqLxsyqd0S5yTYgTCxoJBkkImRt63k1MgPGvzZIR2186CTkqfcalRzfTOp5CWazFWhZnfkygRPc9hS9hJjrvKtqYx4HGKQFOerWz_lY08/s1600/Vichyssoise.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bruce Clarke was an Australian jazz guitarist, composer and founder of legendary label Cumquat Records. He was one of those diverse hired-guns of the Australian scene, active from the late fifties until the seventies when he started teaching. In 1957 he set up The Jingle Workshop, a studio and production company responsible for countless pieces of television music and soundtracks.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">On this record Bruce teams up with Maryan Kenyon, a classical pianist from the Melbourne Conservatorium who worked at The Jingle Workshop. Bruce was a big fan of the Moog synth and Maryan ‘used her spare time to learn and master the equipment at hand’, so the liner notes inform us. ‘Maryan is not just a very pretty face’.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The notes, after having reassured us that the classically trained pianist featured on the album is good-looking (what about Bruce?), mostly wax lyrical about how unusual and eclectic this album is; a combination of bold, unique flavours, just like vichyssoise - a vegetable based French soup - which helps to explain why Clarke and Kenyon are posing in front of a giant leek on the cover. There is a wonderful and unexpected array of sounds to be found on this disc, mainly from the various Moogs and other electronics featuring in most songs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />The feel of the album is dominated by white-Australian jazz funk with a hint of exotica, exemplified by the brilliant <i>Djerba</i>. <i>Djerba</i> opens with a slow, middle-eastern section scored by tom drums and a back and forth interplay between Clarke’s classical guitar and Kenyon’s wah-wah synth. The song then segues into an upbeat funk riff, allowing Kenyon some space to noodle around a bit with the synth and for Clarke to bring on some fuzz guitar.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Vichyssoise is a consistently good listen throughout due to well-chosen songs (about half originals by Clarke or Kenyon, the rest covers) and the extremely high quality of playing from the two stars and their band. Also, the very well-executed and constant presence of Moog and early synths on the tracks always keeps me entertained, setting it apart from other albums of it’s oeuvre.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdSoIsQ7fcVVEzUhgYHcfUqnNHnCoA5ivngL0MXf7JxL4Qt5h-tgTZcaEV4XKs-KKr1DBeQMjrK2ZZMC8dtfVqdLwHaYeNnoNnqV5WtX2lnxI8vpfYtRV0BLIuVuPN7ZjCy9n4x6mIbE/s1600/Vichyssoise+Howard+Moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikdSoIsQ7fcVVEzUhgYHcfUqnNHnCoA5ivngL0MXf7JxL4Qt5h-tgTZcaEV4XKs-KKr1DBeQMjrK2ZZMC8dtfVqdLwHaYeNnoNnqV5WtX2lnxI8vpfYtRV0BLIuVuPN7ZjCy9n4x6mIbE/s1600/Vichyssoise+Howard+Moon.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_3H21QIiWKBgxq2TXvOSfK_LJFPRmYtEyA3X2aZQqFu1vjeOZ0L_FFcPlQ1L0t_MOQolqvVryniUl3Tgi4QgH9V-3eUh2hjin4mcOsKbln4qyr0slLyZV-IIsOvhaSJNCDTh4BRn6ws/s1600/Vichyssoise+Vince+Noir.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk_3H21QIiWKBgxq2TXvOSfK_LJFPRmYtEyA3X2aZQqFu1vjeOZ0L_FFcPlQ1L0t_MOQolqvVryniUl3Tgi4QgH9V-3eUh2hjin4mcOsKbln4qyr0slLyZV-IIsOvhaSJNCDTh4BRn6ws/s1600/Vichyssoise+Vince+Noir.jpg" width="180" /></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Postscript: As inexplicable as it sounds, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Boosh" target="_blank">Howard Moon and Vince Noir</a> appear to be members of Bruce and Maryan's band. Howard has a well documented love of jazz, but I'm surprised to see Vince involved. I'm pretty sure this proves the existence of parallel fiction realities.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Label:</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Cumquat</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1973<br /><b>Players:</b> Bruce Clarke - composer/arranger/conductor, classic and electric guitars, Fender bass, Moog synthesiser, vocals<br />Maryan Kenyon - composer/arranger, Fender-Rhodes, acoustic pianos, harpsichord, Moog synthesiser, vocals<br />Brian Czempinski - percussion and special effects<br />Ted White - woodwinds (sax)<br />Llloyd Knapp - woodwinds<br />Barry Veith - woodwinds<br />Fred Hosking - woodwinds<br />Ron Anderson - woodwinds<br />Bill Harrower - woodwinds<br />Eddie Oxley - woodwinds<br />Keith Stirling - trumpets and/or flugelhorns<br />Bruce Gardiner - trumpets and/or flugelhorns<br />Reg Walsh - trumpets and/or flugelhorns<br />John Hughes - trumpets and/or flugelhorns<br />Ron Webb - trumpets and/or flugelhorns<br />Orme Stewart - trombones<br />Clive Webber - trombones<br />Jack Glenn - trombones<br />Col Williams - trombones<br />John Kennedy - cello<br />Judy Grieve - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cor_anglais" target="_blank">cor anglais</a><br />Maurice Sheldon - tuba</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/22apytt3tazuc89/Vichyssoise.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a> </span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-81589291601530934612014-03-26T16:37:00.000-07:002014-03-26T16:37:06.750-07:00Braddock cigarettes toe-tappingly tackle women's lib: The Braddock Way of Seeing Things - Larry King (197?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/getaway-consulate-cigarettes-bob-young.html" target="_blank">More cigarette advertising songs!</a> This is a promotional 7" I found at the always awesome 3MBS record fair. Braddock are a brand of cigarettes that no longer exist, but who were clearly aiming for a very manly, conservative image with this campaign. I found it very difficult to get any details about this record at all until I found the website of what turned out to be the producer: Brian King. There are a lot of Brian Kings out there, and it wasn't until he replied that I knew he was the right man. Here is an excerpt of his email:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For about 10 years starting in the 70's I was in partnership with Larry King (no relation). We had a company which produced advertising jingles and film music.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />When "Braddock" came our way it was right in the middle of the "Women's Lib" movement and the brief was to create a campaign which celebrated the differences between men and women. Larry King was a good looking guy, kind of like the "Marlborough Man" and as well as our company producing the music Larry also got the gig as "The Braddock Man". This involved a short live tour to Melbourne which was the place they decided to test market the brand. The slogan for the campaign was "Braddock....Not Mild".<br /><br />It was all good fun but to this day I've still never smoked a cigarette!</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I emailed Brian back with a few follow-up questions - I was quite curious as to whether there were any photos of 'The Braddock Man', </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">for example</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> - but he didn't reply.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are eight tracks on this record with lyrically consistent themes of women dressing differently to how they used to, bureaucracy and red tape making a man's life difficult and very little mention of tobacco or cigarettes - although every composition ends with Braddock's aforementioned tagline, 'Braddock…not mild'. As Brian alludes to, this was a pitch aimed at the kind of blokes who were threatened or bewildered by the womens' rights movement and there's an amusing lack of subtlety in the lyrics which pretty much all boil down to 'Everything is different to how it used to be (so smoke our cigarettes)'.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/137331880&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> Private press<br /><b>Released:</b> 197?<br /><b>Players: </b>Larry King - vocals</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/33jsyun23ar3t2q/Braddock.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-61012413119102753252014-01-03T20:33:00.000-08:002014-01-04T06:02:22.792-08:00Australian Geographonic - tracks from Pat Aulton, Philip Merifield and Barry Hall At The Conn Organ.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4Bve6KDMYzDE0qp2yTJoM1B4ubU0ISG5gdefjPLiWP6GHMkW9PVz43XrRWZpqcc0L1UzpzG2YzQQSTDnxjop_QXxZvUEhDdVClmErxqvyRI-9hN_e0coltaksy_rYrkLcG_5WqtnQFw/s1600/The+Place+I+Want+To+Be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm4Bve6KDMYzDE0qp2yTJoM1B4ubU0ISG5gdefjPLiWP6GHMkW9PVz43XrRWZpqcc0L1UzpzG2YzQQSTDnxjop_QXxZvUEhDdVClmErxqvyRI-9hN_e0coltaksy_rYrkLcG_5WqtnQFw/s1600/The+Place+I+Want+To+Be.jpg" height="316" width="320" /></a><b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Place I Want To Be - Pat Aulton (1980).</b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Pat Aulton is quite a celebrated musician and producer who was particularly successful in the sixties and seventies, producing hit records for people such as Normie Rowe. I was familiar with Aulton through a fantastic library track called <i>Barrier Reef</i> that he contributed to </span><a href="http://djmarselluswallace.blogspot.com.au/2010/08/standard-music-library-esl-126.html" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank"><i>Standard Music Library ESL 126</i></a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> alongside John Sangster and Sven Libaek. On </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Place I Want To Be</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> he is front of the microphone and singing this somewhat awkward paean to Great Eastland - a chunk of northern New South Wales and south Queensland. Aulton forges ahead with gusto, even (almost) selling artless lines like, ‘We’ve got people peanut picking up in Kingaroy’ or ‘All through the inland and right along the coast, when you look at people’s faces, you can almost see them boast’. I suspect this was the theme song for the regional television network Great Eastland Television as they commissioned the track and the term ‘Great Eastland’ isn’t widely used in a geographical sense. The B-side, </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Country Nights</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> fares no better lyrically but has some lovely production touches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>It’s Another World - Phillip Merifield (198?).</b> <i>It’s Another World</i> is actually the B-side of this single, but I like it better than the A, so here it is. This is another promotional single either for the Gippsland region in general, or a business called ‘Lakeland Wonderland’ in <a href="http://goo.gl/maps/Y1wwN" target="_blank">Lakes Entrance</a>, that rare thing that has basically zero Google presence, so I haven’t the faintest idea. Anyway, the song itself is in the same ‘list as many towns as you can’ school of songwriting as <i>The Place I Want To Be</i>, but feels a little bit more natural. I haven’t found any information at all about Merifield, but the single was produced by John Wallis, a folk muso who has been active since the eighties and is still playing today. (And, to illustrate the incestuousness of the Australian music scene, on his 1984 LP <i>A Singer Of The Bush</i> he was joined on keyboards by Ian Eccles-Smith, whose <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/prog" target="_blank">progressive releases</a> I have previously showcased on Urban Bowerbird.)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2O1t_gxomBIU1hMT5L1TgFMhJPt-_lY8XVWThK0MKIZGUn6hzk5z6aO9V6riRwLmhRwocFg9Id4yBJGec8GYNdnCm5JxkrdZ2crMMCt3yEPd-JdbuG_SHB-xakAAX1ibjllNCZ0HZBL4/s1600/Barry+Hall.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2O1t_gxomBIU1hMT5L1TgFMhJPt-_lY8XVWThK0MKIZGUn6hzk5z6aO9V6riRwLmhRwocFg9Id4yBJGec8GYNdnCm5JxkrdZ2crMMCt3yEPd-JdbuG_SHB-xakAAX1ibjllNCZ0HZBL4/s1600/Barry+Hall.jpg" height="317" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Lights Of Adelaide - Barry Hall At The Conn Organ (1969). </b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Barry Hall is a bit of a star organ player who released a number of LPs in the sixties and seventies and at 77 years old still has new CDs for sale on his website today. This track is off his </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Choose Your Own</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> LP which was the name of Barry’s radio show on Adelaide’s 5DN. On this show, Barry would ‘spin records, give cheerio calls to listeners, handle competitions and play the organ’. Little wonder that Barry remained a ‘firm favourite with housewives over the years’. One competition that 5DN held in 1968 was an Australia wide songwriting contest for a song about Adelaide. The winner, </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Lights Of Adelaide</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> written by Mr. Cliff Johns of Belair, is given Barry’s organ-driven treatment with accompaniment from Kevin Roper on drums and Roy Wooding on guitar. Sure, it’s a daggy and antiquated tune (have you ever </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">been</i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> to Adelaide?) but it’s pretty charming and the addition of live guitar lifts it above the general standard of op-shop organ music. All in all, it perfectly sums up Adelaide, or ‘Radelaide’ as it is regularly, sarcastically referred to by Melbournians and Sydneysiders alike.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/nrlps2qj74a0ffr/Australian%20Geographonic.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-18983248811287715112013-12-27T20:13:00.001-08:002014-05-10T16:49:34.209-07:00Maori folk pop with a hint of Hawaii: The Fabulous Howard Morrison Quartet (1960)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjs_dNfgunrwSKOutaUDmBpvH0J5bw89OhIqsTfd7RCNdceZmpTHS1kNAY9-FeUKQi0t9CoLzCqSxHbMXcezbAh65hkEDMFUUQ5ctB6jkRMrR_xLi82BVvvRl6Qz0dluuhAX9mu_59ME/s1600/Howard+Morrison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVjs_dNfgunrwSKOutaUDmBpvH0J5bw89OhIqsTfd7RCNdceZmpTHS1kNAY9-FeUKQi0t9CoLzCqSxHbMXcezbAh65hkEDMFUUQ5ctB6jkRMrR_xLi82BVvvRl6Qz0dluuhAX9mu_59ME/s1600/Howard+Morrison.jpg" height="318" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Although the fabulous Howard Morrison and his quartet were all New Zealanders playing traditional Kiwi songs, there’s a definite Hawaiian feel to this four-track EP. It seems obvious enough why they would take this stylistic route; Hawaiian music was huge in the sixties, these fellow denizens of the Pacific must have felt a kinship with its culture, and why not take advantage of a musical trend while you can? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The songs on the EP all showcase the strong multi-part harmonies of the fabulous quartet and are all sung in their native Maori tongue. My favourite is the upbeat closing track, <i>Haere Haere Ra E Hine</i>, which features some sweet, reverby sixties guitar playing. </span></div>
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/126793334&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> La Gloria</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1960</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/t1zboj37owu6f5k/Howard%20Morrison%20Quartet.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-55324649858934270012013-12-10T12:20:00.002-08:002013-12-13T03:33:34.668-08:00Our man of many trumpets: John Robertson and his Multi Trumpets – John Robertson (196?)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBP4PECxye3YBLWdIbOWp0YXc5KtfoJWvkVoahnyKXNuYET0R-LJTxsCWWYZ5-gi_XJLYdkY4ALKXVFpql-vQ9OIoOnGsrVXUvdkqWuj7_QSQN-99BBdqSErxzP3jjjS2AUIB60FDalkg/s1600/John+Robertson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBP4PECxye3YBLWdIbOWp0YXc5KtfoJWvkVoahnyKXNuYET0R-LJTxsCWWYZ5-gi_XJLYdkY4ALKXVFpql-vQ9OIoOnGsrVXUvdkqWuj7_QSQN-99BBdqSErxzP3jjjS2AUIB60FDalkg/s1600/John+Robertson.jpg" height="317" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Robertson was a classically trained trumpeter, originally from New Zealand, who emigrated to Australia in the fifties or sixties. Despite a strong reputation as an orchestral player, he also cut a few popular LPs such as this exotica/Latin record from the mid-sixties. The reference to ‘multi trumpets’ seems to simply refer to Robertson using multi-tracking of trumpet lines and accompanying himself on most tracks – fairly standard practice, I would have thought, but I guess you’ve got market your instrumental trumpet LP somehow. <br /><br />Most of the information I’ve been able to find about Robertson has been from a conversation on a <a href="http://www.trumpetherald.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33875" target="_blank">trumpet forum from 2005</a>. They’ve got some solid information about Robertson and some good stories such as this one about the musicians who were playing at Sydney’s famous Trocadero jazz venue: <i>One of their numbers had each musician playing some novelty trick... Robbo's gimmick was to hold a high C for 16 bars revolving the trumpet on his lips, while the band played chords underneath. Apparently all the Sydney musicians would crowd in to see him do this act - couldn't believe the lack of mouthpiece pressure. And [trumpeter] George Dobson commented later about these days saying each night he (still seated) would be covered in 'a fine spray of spittle as Robbie (standing) went into act'!</i><br /><br />Anyway, John Robertson and his Multi Trumpets is a fine set of instrumental standards played with great skill by Robertson and arranged beautifully by Thomas Tycho. The first track to really make an impression on me was <i>Sugar Plum Cha-cha</i>, an adaptation of Tchaikovsky’s piece of (more or less) the same name. Yes, it’s twee as fuck, but the bass and percussion is swinging and it’s ultimately quite a well executed interpretation.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/124202681&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> RCA</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 196?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">John Robertson: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Trumpet and flugelhorn</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thomas Tycho: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Musical director and arranger</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Don Andrews: </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Guitar soloist on <i>La Spagnola</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/jfub02cepkcu3yh/John%20Robertson%20trumpet.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-62974324040065174442013-10-18T21:57:00.000-07:002016-10-18T22:17:41.623-07:00Bach + koto and shakuhachi + jazz trio = J.S. Bach Is Alive And Well And Doing His Thing On The Koto – Tadao Sawai et al (1971)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDKNujbrLpMltOG9MXHTP740QBdpANdWuVBRnPvW4USmTXlOsJObJXmVb8ipG7aEdf3_dHg-Wr6QOiT9U1uDU9fm_PQjVEiqLzXzGMLjz62HrmT0MJAlqyeQvMnxHdAA1_ut8nMNhMbCo/s1600/Bach+Koto.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDKNujbrLpMltOG9MXHTP740QBdpANdWuVBRnPvW4USmTXlOsJObJXmVb8ipG7aEdf3_dHg-Wr6QOiT9U1uDU9fm_PQjVEiqLzXzGMLjz62HrmT0MJAlqyeQvMnxHdAA1_ut8nMNhMbCo/s1600/Bach+Koto.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">This rather unusual and improbably named LP marks the moment that I realised I had been neglecting the ‘classical’ bins at the record fairs. I’m not a huge fan of Bach – he’s a bit too chromatic and conventional for my tastes – but I couldn’t go past an album of his music being interpreted by traditional Japanese instrumentation supported by a jazz rhythm section.<br /> <br />How/why did this get made? God only knows, but I suspect that it was conceived and produced by the Japanese players who thought it would be an interesting musical exercise but that it then later made its way into the hands of an American label who thought that the only way to market such a chimera would be with a wacky angle and silly record cover. (As you can see, the cover depicts a gentleman in full baroque regalia whimsically nursing a koto in a traditional Japanese room. It's basically a direct appropriation of the cover concept for <i>Switched On Bach</i>.) The liner notes continue this light-hearted theme with a faux interview with Bach himself who muses on his works, gives his approval to this new interpretation of his music and cracks a few very corny gags. The LP appears to have been released in an earlier incarnation in 1969 with the (slightly) less silly title “A New Sound From The Japanese Bach Scene”.<br /> <br />Despite the label trying to sell this set off as a bit of a joke, the music itself is very well produced and skilfully played. The fusion of the disparate elements of Bach, Japanese traditional and jazz works seamlessly and it’s actually a very congruent listen overall.</span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/116035605&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> RCA</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1971 (Original release 1969)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> Tadao Sawai - first koto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Kazue Sawai - second koto</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Hozan Yamamoto - shakuhachi</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Sadanori Nakamure - guitar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Tatsuro Takimoto - bass</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Takeshi Inomata - drums</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/zr469k3jyq1b6fm/Bach_Koto.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-36129905938132105512013-09-29T02:35:00.001-07:002013-09-29T04:45:32.090-07:00Qantas's marketing team get hip: The Kangaroo Hop - Qantas Air Cargo (1971)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS8HKXALHmaPiHD9NjkxzGgcIvk14bV5dBgHciv5o7JpI1UFirQMbmy-f51k_BOFvnv4ebtksY6VhvAMANNrprQgDEl4lu7EhspVb_oQGAjdNzBn20a-4QArPE4civbGa9O7XSrYVud1M/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS8HKXALHmaPiHD9NjkxzGgcIvk14bV5dBgHciv5o7JpI1UFirQMbmy-f51k_BOFvnv4ebtksY6VhvAMANNrprQgDEl4lu7EhspVb_oQGAjdNzBn20a-4QArPE4civbGa9O7XSrYVud1M/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>How you going to swing down there on the ground? </i>This is the question posed by the hip young man who sings The Kangaroo Hop - a groovy new sound which incongruously extolls the virtues of the usually prosaic business of air cargo. The Kangaroo Hop is featured on a transparent red flexi-disc that I found at last year's <a href="http://kewrecordfair.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Kew Record Fair</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The A side has The Kangaroo Hop 'single', a rockin' piece of seventies pop with an exciting male vocal punctuated by a horn section and accompanied by some funky drumming. I've no idea who the players are, as the information on the disc indicates that the song was 'invented, arranged and performed by Qantas Air Cargo'. The B side has a few snippets of the aforementioned song but is mainly taken up by a typical old-style Australian announcer - a man, of course, this is business sweetheart - describing the benefits of using Qantas air cargo for your company. (The best part is the very beginning where he awkwardly repeats the first couple of the lines to the song, vaguely in time with the music.) The Kangaroo Hop was featured in <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8HlWAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XOUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1858%2C2450132" target="_blank">Australian newspaper advertisements in 1971</a> with pretty much the same sort of copy that appears on the record. </span><br />
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I often wonder how these sorts of promotional vinyl releases were meant to be received. Some are obviously intended to be played on radio, but based on the presentation of the disc and the nature of the information on the sleeve and B side, I suspect this one was intended to be played by the businessmen themselves. The language positively screams that using Qantas air cargo is modern, groovy and in tune with the times. Although, this does seem at odds with the graphics they chose for the disc of old fashioned ballroom dancers - perhaps they were just stock pictures from a library. </span><br />
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I love hearing <a href="http://urbanbower.blogspot.com.au/search/label/Promotional" target="_blank">promotional releases</a> from the sixties and seventies of Australia. There's a sort of unintentional honesty to this music which evokes the time they come from with a sincerity and veracity that pop music simply doesn't have. So come on, <i>grab a jet and go with the groovy new sound - it's the Kangaroo Hop! It's the Kangaroo hop!</i></span><br />
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<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F113021602&color=ff6600&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> Private Qantas label.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1971 (based on newspaper advertisements)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> None identified. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/xkteibbo57c1pcl/Kangaroo_Hop.zip" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mediafire.</span></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvDbiGr6hofdKdgtTEGLtsiHU7B7l9qCLAvgQAup5BubJI_b4ia8YwEEPlokeHbDAzdPo5-4XRH_fKJzwkIKRIrjRH2bftdxVwrTvhqsC76p4WZTPXwkRnD8ZVggOnmqEQDvTYUu2HVJU/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+back.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvDbiGr6hofdKdgtTEGLtsiHU7B7l9qCLAvgQAup5BubJI_b4ia8YwEEPlokeHbDAzdPo5-4XRH_fKJzwkIKRIrjRH2bftdxVwrTvhqsC76p4WZTPXwkRnD8ZVggOnmqEQDvTYUu2HVJU/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+back.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdtshwgs6WgUVRxNFTb9-0wYdYBrwxb4ogBDr1ughFJUNut03Qa338MWPGoxPlkMD34S9dlZKqfU9R5TuzEvRYqF_0PPjnkS92l04eM_ygslUFrJobZByMVIh9Lhv02XJUnryl4bH91I/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+interior.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNdtshwgs6WgUVRxNFTb9-0wYdYBrwxb4ogBDr1ughFJUNut03Qa338MWPGoxPlkMD34S9dlZKqfU9R5TuzEvRYqF_0PPjnkS92l04eM_ygslUFrJobZByMVIh9Lhv02XJUnryl4bH91I/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+interior.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKLNeOHz53orrit33L9Sc24sjkRuf32TxutYGpVUpp1tz56YLhy-16k5dPUpZydNEiuR2GD9kTIZa0cC9fX5864H3LOpG0qG-9BM8DNQOZNUT2ThNS298B79qYLv_tzLI7cGqnNzmatg/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+disc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKLNeOHz53orrit33L9Sc24sjkRuf32TxutYGpVUpp1tz56YLhy-16k5dPUpZydNEiuR2GD9kTIZa0cC9fX5864H3LOpG0qG-9BM8DNQOZNUT2ThNS298B79qYLv_tzLI7cGqnNzmatg/s1600/Kangaroo+Hop+disc.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-86999162123392850212013-09-05T03:01:00.000-07:002013-09-05T12:38:51.421-07:00Viva Elec. Guitar - The Spacemen (1965)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5PASCv0sa0PAdx4fgj_xbj2IzEbH0HX6m52wTmBc04GIys7xlBLJvk9WJp8hOAv2q36y18un8wS-FknnsS8KiOqIXg1xSyZEjZNgwxunKNtBvc7nde48Hj4b3UPENu1FolVfzkYSOvg/s1600/Spacemen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhG5PASCv0sa0PAdx4fgj_xbj2IzEbH0HX6m52wTmBc04GIys7xlBLJvk9WJp8hOAv2q36y18un8wS-FknnsS8KiOqIXg1xSyZEjZNgwxunKNtBvc7nde48Hj4b3UPENu1FolVfzkYSOvg/s320/Spacemen.jpg" height="320" width="319" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Apparently, back in the sixties there was quite a big wave of Japanese bands inspired by the surf guitar bands of the United States. They called this music 'eleki' and there were many bands playing in this style, until the Beatles and the British Invasion kind of wiped them out. The Spacemen seem to be a pretty obscure proponent of this sound, but hot damn are they good! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My brother found this LP in a tip shop in Canberra and it's a great listen - inventive arrangements, ancient keyboard tones and loads of baritone guitar. There's also a kind of 'outsider' feeling to the overall sound of the album, presumably due to the amplified isolation of Japanese musicians in the early sixties who were miles away from the California surf sound to which they were paying tribute. Even standards like <i>Tequila</i> and <i>Caravan</i>, tracks that I thought I might be skipping past, are given exceptional interpretations by The Spacemen and the LP is a great listen from start to finish.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Label:</b> Victor</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1965</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Players:</b> Unknown. There are extensive liner notes, but they are in Japanese.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/mbzd2kaz2u8z9rz/Viva_Elec._Guitar.zip">Mediafire.</a> </span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5482751191146806612.post-73945435093139026472013-08-17T23:30:00.002-07:002013-12-01T18:31:44.462-08:00Nākšu Es - Staburadze (1978)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgex6fJrYtDbGROWJoa4htlP-E_55rzOZjtjlzohTlOFS4gTSuTrldWgj8CtE7Rrc0iHJIZkQT80-Ed0hQFk-I1RA_Hj3stXxAeBquxjZSIO0xZuDKBDnkV13Bq9CuZIlucBzGmTgt2t-Q/s1600/Staburadze.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgex6fJrYtDbGROWJoa4htlP-E_55rzOZjtjlzohTlOFS4gTSuTrldWgj8CtE7Rrc0iHJIZkQT80-Ed0hQFk-I1RA_Hj3stXxAeBquxjZSIO0xZuDKBDnkV13Bq9CuZIlucBzGmTgt2t-Q/s320/Staburadze.jpg" height="315" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’m having some trouble working out the geographical provenance of <i>Nākšu Es</i> (<i>I Will Come</i>). It’s an album by a charming vocal group of multi-instrumentalist Latvian teenage girls that seems to be a private press made for an Australian tour (hence how I found it in an op-shop in Northcote, Melbourne). But there are pictures on the LP from Australia so, did they make it while they were here, or have they toured Australia before? The <a href="http://latviansonline.com/kolonijas/article/3337/" target="_blank">one source I could find online</a> that mentions Staburadze even implies that they were based in the U.S. or at least toured there, so this LP's origin is still unclear.<br /><br /> Anyway, <i>Nākšu Es</i> is a nice set of vocal, folky songs from circa 1978, mostly recorded as a live ensemble, if not in front of a live audience. The LP starts off a little slow, but there are some great tracks throughout the album, particularly on side two. There is a great cover of <i>Fernando</i> (by fellow northern Europeans ABBA) sung in Latvian and flourished with some nice flute playing. I like the tracks where the arrangement is a little unconventional such as the excellent minor key number, <i>Vīzija</i> which jumps between a slow, melancholy verse and a driving chorus. Another interesting arrangement is <i>Ar Tevi Vien</i> which is almost reminiscent of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1Ri8vPrPgg" target="_blank">Estonian band Collage</a> with it’s jazzy piano and rapid, multipart harmonies. Finally, check out the Latvian calypso (!) of <i>Ardiev Vas</i> on side two.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Label:</span></b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Private press</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Released:</b> 1978<br /><b>Players:</b> Rita Circene - vocals, flute<br />Benita Jaundāldere - vocals, guitar<br />Valda Upenieks - vocals, guitar, mandolin<br />Skarleta Berkolde - vocals<br />Rita Grava - vocals, flute<br />Ausma Līdacis - vocals, guitar</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Paul Berkolds - accordion, piano, percussion</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Bill Chism - guitar, bass</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.mediafire.com/download/ne5ja6rzujfduyh/Staburadze.zip" target="_blank">Mediafire.</a></span></div>
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R o h a nhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17370072124126091439noreply@blogger.com0